system failure
Complete operational collapse
System failure is the breakdown or malfunction of a complex mechanism—typically technological but also institutional.
A computer system failure crashes operations; a power system failure causes blackouts.
The term implies interconnected components where one breakdown cascades through the whole: The outage was traced to a system failure at the main hub.
In bureaucratic contexts, system failure often deflects blame from individuals to abstract structures: Officials called it a system failure, not negligence.
- crashSudden violent impact
- hard drive crashStorage device malfunction
- breakdownFailure or decomposition
- malfunctionFailure to operate properly
- errorFault in communication
error message · glitch · collapse · meltdown · blue screen · blue screen of death · reboot · outage · bug · kernel panic · catastrophic · shutdown · pull the plug · critical · fatal · cascade · overload · corruption
- brokenbroken, busted, broken down, out of order, not working
- infrastructure failuresbridge collapse, potholes, dam breach, power outage, water main breaks
- malfunctionsbroken, defective, glitch, faulty, error
- misfortunesdisaster, catastrophe, tragedy, calamity, misery
- outagespower outage, outage, blackout, brownout, total blackout
- tech problemsbug, paper jam, low ink, dropped calls, bugs
system failureworking order
State of proper function
system health · system stability · online · functional · up and running
system, failure, systems, systematic, systematically, systematize, systematized, systemic, systemically